New Zealanders Callum Hedge and Liam Sceats featured in the top five of the 22-car Indy NXT Chris Griffis Memorial Test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course over the weekend.
Hedge, testing with ABEL Motorsports, was fourth quickest, with his best effort coming as 1:15.4443 at an average speed of 116.383mph (187.3kph). The 20-year-old, who competed with HMD Motorsports in 2024, completed 76 laps.
Sceats’s fastest time was less than one-tenth behind, his best of 71 laps being 1:15.5162, placing him fifth.
“USF Pro 2000 veteran Sceats has not been named to a car yet for the 2025 INDY NXT season but grabbed attention up and down the IMS pit lane with his performance,” read Indy NXT’s press release.
ABEL Motorsports’ Myles Rowe was the fastest on the one-day test, setting the pace with a 1:15.1848 effort.
FIA Formula 3 champion and Formula 2 race winner Dennis Hauger made an impressive start to his North American transition, topping the morning session with a 1:15.6896 before improving to a 1:15.3285 in the afternoon to place second overall with Andretti Global.
Australian driver Lochie Hughes, the 2024 USF Pro 2000 champion who joins Andretti Global in Indy NXT in 2025, was third overall at 1:15.3736 in the No. 26 machine, ahead of Hedge and Sceats.
Caio Collett, the 2024 Indy NXT Rookie of the Year, was sixth, ahead of Andretti Global’s Bryce Aron.
Tommy Smith, who also moves to North America following campaigns in Formula 3, joined his new team HMD Motorsports and was 21st fastest, more than two seconds ahead of 2024 Xfinity Series racer Hailie Deegan, who was making her debut appearance in open wheel machinery.
Twenty-two drivers from six teams combined to turn 1,572 laps during the test, named in memory of Chris Griffis, the team manager of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports who passed away suddenly in September 2011.
The 2025 Indy NXT season starts on March 2 on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Official announcements regarding the plans for Sceats and Hedge for the upcoming season are expected in the near future.
